King
by Chloe Silvers
Summary: After Oliver comes out of his downward spiral, he has one objective: to save Chloe Sullivan. "Although the objective of chess is to place the king in a compromising position, every player wants to capture the other's queen." Sequel to Queen.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: After Oliver comes out of his downward spiral, he has one objective: to save Chloe Sullivan. Although the objective of chess is to place the king in a compromising position, every player wants to capture the other's queen. Sequel to Queen

Warnings: Rated NC-17 for smut in later chapters.

King

Chapter One

"Although the objective of chess is to place the king in a compromising position, every player wants to capture the other's queen."

For Oliver, things seemed to have gone back to normal, and that worried him. After months of being in a drunken stupor, he was determined to keep himself from falling down again. He promised the hallucination that he wasn't going to forget, and that he would be good to the real Chloe Sullivan.

He had broken the promise he had made to the League years ago to never let anything happen to them and when he originally gave up on his company and his role as the Green Arrow, he silently broke every promise that he made to his parents to make a difference in the world. But this? This was a promise that he was determined to keep.

The hallucination was an image of his memories, and of Chloe's- making a promise to that sparkling vision in gold meant making a promise not only to her, but to himself as well.

He burned every bottle that he had purchased. He also locked up the family liquor collection, and gave her the key. If there was one person alive who could guard it, who could prevent him from slipping again, it was the woman who had saved him. And now, it was his turn to save her.

When she called him, saying that Lois was in the hospital due to post-traumatic stress disorder over the future that she had visited, Oliver called the best neurologists in the world to find out what was going on. Clark took Lois to Met Gen, and Chloe stayed behind. She had Emil request a copy of her medical records so that she could sift through them at the Watchtower instead of going to the hospital.

Oliver was sitting around at his desk now, waiting to hear back from Clark or Chloe. The last thing he heard, Lois had gone missing. He didn't think that Chloe kidnapped her, but he did think that she knew more of what was going on than she let on. He kept himself busy by filling out some paperwork until his phone rang. But it wasn't Chloe who was calling him.

"Emil, what's going on?" he asked

"What do you know?" the doctor asked cautiously

"Lois went missing from the hospital, and Clark was trying to track her down." He answered

"Long story short? Tess kidnapped Lois and took her to a facility. Chloe and Clark tracked her down, and he unintentionally used the machine Lois was hooked up to. He was able to see everything that she did."

"And?"

"I don't know what Clark saw, but I do know that it's bad. But to be honest, I'm more worried about Chloe."

His grip on the cell phone tightened. "What happened?"

"Clark was literally trapped within Lois' brainwaves, and I wanted to pull him out right away, but she wouldn't let me. The human brain is a very complicated and unique system, but Lois' body wouldn't have been able to withstand the memories for very long. Chloe knew how physically damaging they were, but she was still willing to risk her cousin's life in order to find out what happens in the future."

Oliver closed his eyes for a moment and pinched the bridge of his nose before answering. "Didn't you say that the future Clark saw was bad? So, isn't it a good thing that Chloe was willing to take the risk?"

"She's becoming morally gray at best, and you know it."

He let out a breath. "Yeah, I know. I'm working on fixing that part", he told Emil. "Right up there with becoming less transparent", he added. "Where are they now? Is everyone safe?"

"Everyone's fine. Ms. Mercer and Mr. Campbell are both in the hospital, but they will both live. Clark and Lois are okay. They're at the Planet as we speak."

"And Chloe?" Oliver prompted

"She's probably at the Watchtower."

"Of course." She was always there. "Thanks for filling me in." He hung up the phone and pulled on his jacket. Time for a little drive.

He made it to the Watchtower in record time, and pushed the double doors open. Chloe was typing at her desk, her eyes fixated on the screen in front of her. "One second", she said as she continued to type.

"Sorry to just barge in here without calling. Emil filled me in on mostly everything."

She nodded, and continued to type for a couple of seconds before letting out a breath. "Done."

"What did you do? What did Clark see?" he asked

"I just wanted to make sure that Emil doesn't get into trouble for helping us. I hacked into the hospital's database, made it look like Lois never left, and that he just diagnosed her with hypoglycemia. That's the back-story."

Chloe reached into a drawer, and pulled out a couple of files. "Here"

He flipped through absentmindedly. "Medical files?" He sorted through them. "Stuart, Lois, and Tess?"

"They're all fine. Completely healthy."

He held them out to her. "I trust you."

But she didn't accept them. "Read them. I want to make sure I didn't miss anything."

She walked over to a nearby monitor, and started typing. "Sit", she said over her shoulder.

She was avoiding the question. Oliver set the files on the desk before following her. "Chloe." He said gently "What did Clark see?"

She turned around. "We all die less than a year from now", she said bluntly. "Zod and the Kandorians develop a solar tower that turns the sun red, giving them powers and stripping Clark of his. You, me, Clark, we're all going to die."

Oliver knew that she didn't want to talk about it for longer than she had to. "I'm going to go read the files. You're right, we better make sure everything's in order."

She nodded. "Clark should be here any minute. Apparently, he has some sort of plan."

Oliver sat down at the desk, and flipped through the files as Chloe turned her back on him and resumed her typing. He watched as she moved from computer to computer. He stared at the screens as she left them- she was trying to find more satellite images with Kryptonian symbols.

She was busying herself, trying not to think about the future. In the same way that he distracted himself by drinking. The hallucination was right- he shouldn't have been surprised.

The only question was how he was going to make Chloe see what she was doing to herself. It didn't even register to her that she should have gone to the hospital to check on her cousin. Chloe wasn't even telling him the specifics of what Clark saw.

Oliver remembered her words, weeks ago. I trust you Oliver, just…not that much. He hated that he still wasn't at that point yet. He went to work every day and patrolled every night, but it still wasn't good enough.

Clark walked through the door, and Oliver tried to look absorbed in the files once more, but the smile on Clark's face had him curious. "You know, for a guy who just got a mondo dose of kryptonite, you sure seem happy."

Clark stared out the window. "Well, the sun is shining; Lois is going to be alright."

"She should be fine", Oliver glanced at Chloe, who was walking over. "Dr. Emil ran every possible test on her, and she's healthy and doesn't remember a thing." She said, as she made her way over to the desk, flipping over a nearby laptop. Oliver did a double take. He didn't realize until that moment that she was wearing a green leather jacket.

She looked more beautiful in green leather than the hallucination did in that golden dress. The real thing was better after all.

"Except for the flowers that Clark sent to her hospital room", Chloe added. "But who could forget 5 dozen roses?"

Seriously? "Five dozen roses. Well, that's subtle", Oliver remarked.

Chloe glanced at both of them. "You know, I don't get why the two of you are grinning, considering the fact that we're all about to die terribly tragic deaths in the not so distant future."

Terribly tragic deaths? She didn't say that before. How did she die?

"That's because if we do something in the present, we can change all that", Clark told them.

If they all died terribly tragic deaths, then Chloe going through all that trouble to bring him back would have been a waste. And Oliver wasn't about to accept that. He stood up from the chair. "Well, I vote we take Zod out right now. That way, he doesn't get the chance to take the sunshine off our shoulders."

"No. In the future that I saw, I tried to fight Zod. All I did was turn him into a more powerful enemy."

"Clark, just because you learned a lesson on team work doesn't mean that we have to stop fighting Zod", Chloe told him.

"Going up against Zod will only force him to come back with everything that he has."

Oliver sensed the tension between her and Clark. Most of all, he felt Chloe's usual fighting spirit beginning to wane. It was time for him to step in, even if he had just gotten on good terms with Clark.

"So what, you think you two can just hug it out?" He asked

"When my father said save Zod, what I think he meant was save Zod from himself. Now, if I can befriend him, show him how good life can be here", Clark started.

"-That would be a mistake", Chloe said. Good, she was willing to fight again. She walked around the desk. "Clark, if Zod gets his solar tower online, that gives him all the power in the world and us none. Including you. Zod will fly psychopathic circles around you."

"Chloe, I've seen what happens when I treat Zod like the enemy. This time I'm going to do things the right way."

Clark sped off before either of them could get in another word. Chloe just walked back over to a monitor, and continued typing.

For her, it was time to get back to work, but he didn't want her to get lost in it again.

He remembered the hallucination's words: I couldn't hate you even if I tried.

A part of her said those words, and that meant that she wouldn't push him away. He walked up to her. "Terribly tragic deaths, huh? I feel like I'm missing some important details."

"I wasn't given all of the details", she said as she typed.

"But you know how we die. Those are pretty important details. I mean, if I get into a car accident or something, let me know now so I can just go the rooftop route into work", he joked.

"Don't worry, the traffic route is still solid. I'm pretty sure I can hack into traffic control and give you all greens. You know, for a faster journey", she smiled.

A smile is a good sign. "Well, how do I die?"

If he could just get her to turn around and unglue her hands from that keyboard…

"Steer clear of a swarm of flying Kandorians", she answered.

"Well, what do you have to avoid?"

She stopped typing for a second, and looked down. What was she looking at?

"Chloe?"

"A sword", she answered softly.

"That's not going to happen", he said automatically. "None of it will."

"We can't be sure. Not unless we prevent the solar towers from being built."

"Then we'll make sure that those aren't built."

She turned around. Good. "How are you going to do that?"

"Zod's been working with Tess. If he tries to build the solar towers, he's going to need approval from the board. I won't let that happen."

"Go."

She turned her back on him, and continued to work. But Oliver saw the small smile on her lips, and he didn't feel insulted. If this was the only way to build her trust in him, then he was going to do it.

For her, he would battle a thousand Kandorians.


	2. Chapter 2

Summary: After Oliver comes out of his downward spiral, he has one objective: to save Chloe Sullivan. "Although the objective of chess is to place the king in a compromising position, every player wants to capture the other's queen." Sequel to Queen

Warning: Rated NC-17, for smut in future chapters.

A/N: I love the sight of fresh hate-mail in the morning. I'm actually proud of myself for stirring this much hate in only the first chapter. Here's the thing-I told everybody that I was reluctant in posting a sequel. If you want to preserve the image of Queen in your head, then don't read the sequel. I think that it's pretty simple.

Chapter Two

Chess is called the game of kings, because for many years, it was played primarily by nobility and the upper classes.

Oliver forgot how much he hated board meetings. Countless hours of irritation passed as he tried in vain to work against the solar towers Zod and Tess were working on building. From a business standpoint, the towers were a good idea. If he supported them and took control of the project, the company's stock would be at an all-time high.

The board members never failed to remind him of that. The damned CFO of the company did the number-crunching, and came to the conclusion that the towers would pay for themselves in the end. He said that it was the right decision, that his father would want him to support the project.

It frustrated him that the company didn't know what he did. The road to hell was paved with good intentions, and the solar towers were no exception. He refused to believe that the towers were the only option- he pushed for solar panels being installed in the Luthorcorp Building, the Clock Tower, and the Daily Planet, he wanted factories all over the globe to become more fuel-efficient; he tried every single possibility that he could think of, but Tess constantly fought against him.

This was the only job that Chloe had given him, and he was failing her already. He was sure that his leave of absence from his work hadn't made him rusty, but now he wasn't so sure. Tess was very good at fighting against him. She already had support from most of the board. The truth was that the entire world was going to hell, and there was nothing that Oliver could do to stop it.

He opened the front door of the Luthorcorp Building and took a deep breath. They probably had the blueprints drawn up already. The sooner he could get a copy of them, the faster he would be able to take them down.

But Chloe wasn't the only person who didn't fully trust him anymore- Clark didn't either. He wanted control over the situation, and even though Oliver knew that it was a bad decision to wait around for the Kandorians to get their powers before intervening, he needed to stay on good terms with him.

While Clark was out showing the Kandorians around the Earth, Oliver was going to prepare himself for the coming apocalypse. And that meant another long afternoon of target practice before tonight's patrol. He took his phone out of his pocket and turned it on. He frowned when he saw two windows pop up. Ten missed calls and ten voicemails.

And they were all from Chloe. Damn it, what happened? He dialed his voicemail, and listened to the first message as he paced outside of the building. "Oliver, it's Chloe. I'm trying to get a hold of the team, trying to get them in one place so that I can tell them about the future Clark saw. An upcoming alien apocalypse isn't exactly something that I can put in an e-mail."

Okay, humor is good. It meant that she was alive. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his keys, still listening as he walked to his car. "I'm trying to get in contact with Clark, but he's not answering his phone either. I'm going to try again- see if he'll answer. Bye."

He opened the door as another message started to play. "Hi, it's Chloe. Again. I normally wouldn't call, but someone found me in the middle of the city. And he called me Watchtower."

What? How was that even possible? He got inside of the car and put his phone on speakerphone as he fastened his seatbelt quickly and started the car.

"Good guy, I think."

"You think, or you know?" he asked out-loud

"He called himself a friend. I don't know what happened; first I'm talking to the guy. Next thing I know, I'm being thrown in a dumpster, it's freezing, and there are flashes of light everywhere. I finally get out, and he's bleeding on the floor. We have to find out what happened."

He pulled out and accelerated quickly before a red-light forced him to slow down and another message played.

"It's me. I just realized that you're probably heading over to the Watchtower, but I'm not there. You should probably head over to Met Gen. I may have passed out in the ambulance, and the doctors may have wanted to check on me."

When the light turned green, Oliver pressed on the accelerator hard. "I don't know why. They shouldn't have been running unnecessary tests on me when there's someone seriously injured."

Oh, she didn't know why doctors wanted to examine her after she passed out in the ambulance? He shook his head. The hallucination was right- Chloe was so wrapped up in her work that he own health didn't matter anymore. Being in a hospital overnight didn't make her see reason, it just made her irritated. How was he going to make her see what she was doing to herself?

"Anyway, I've been calling Clark, and he's not picking up. It's not like I can exactly explain to Lois why they diagnosed me with mild frostbite and sleep-deprivation. Would you mind getting me out of here? There's nothing wrong with me."

He checked the time. She had called him with that message about 2 hours ago. He had failed her again. Great.

He slammed a hand on the steering wheel as he listened to another message. "The man's name was Sylvester Pemberton." Why did she sound so sad? "He's dead, Ollie." He heard her clear her voice, and the professionalism returned. "I'm going to try and find out what I can. I'll let you know if there are any new developments. Call me when you can."

He waited for another message to play. "Clark's here, and so is the Metropolis PD. I'm going to try and see what I can find out."

And Clark beat him to the punch. Stupid board members, stupid Kandorians and their stupid solar towers.

Oliver made a sharp u-turn- the Watchtower was on the other side of town.

There was a short pause before another message played. "Clark just gave me a lift back to Watchtower. He's going to conduct his own investigation. I guess we'll just compare notes later. I'll keep you posted."

He slowed down as the car in front of him did. He glanced at the stopped surrounding lanes. These people were wasting his time. His phone continued playing the messages, regardless of his frustration.

He could hear her typing at the Watchtower, and her voice sounded slightly distracted. "Oliver, it's Chloe. I think that I'm going to have to call the rest of the team for this one. I don't know what it is yet, but there's something about all of this that seems bigger than what it looks like. I'm still trying to put all of the pieces together."

He wanted to help her- she didn't have to do all of this alone. But here he was, stuck in traffic. But he didn't have to be. Regardless of the cars honking at him, he pulled over to the side of the road, and shut off the ignition.

He grabbed his phone and ended the call, slipping it in his pocket as he got out of the car. He looked like an idiot, dressed up in a suit and walking around Metropolis.

He grabbed a change of clothes from the trunk and stepped into the first restaurant he saw. He reached into his pocket, and gave the host a crisp hundred in exchange for directions to the bathroom.

The kid thanked him, and Oliver went on his way. He didn't need to check the rest of the messages to know that Chloe needed him there right away. He changed quickly before leaving the restaurant and putting the suit back in his car.

The traffic jam was still there. He didn't care; Watchtower wasn't incredibly far from where he was.

He was going to walk it, and ignore the questioning looks of people on the street. It was as if they had never seen a billionaire walking in the middle of the city before. Ridiculous people.


	3. Chapter 3

King

Chess is not about the overwhelming forces- it is about controlling the application of force, of your own and your opponent's.

Chapter Three

Oliver finally pushed open the doors of the Watchtower and stepped inside in search for Chloe. He looked around a little bit at the open space, and worried that she might have gone off on her own when he heard his name being called.

"Oliver"

He looked up at the staircase where she was descending, a professional face put on. "Good, you got my message."

Message? Was she seriously going to pretend that it was only one? That there wasn't a trip to the hospital, and that he was wasting his time worrying about her?

"I got all ten of them, Chloe", he said as he looked around. She said that she was trying to get everybody back together. Was he the last to arrive? Damn board meeting. "Where are the other super-friends?" he asked as she walked past him

"Still waiting for them to ping me back." Oh, good. So he wasn't a complete failure. "See, this is why I keep asking everybody to come up with some sort of standardized trouble alert", she said as she fished for papers on the desk. "The team needs structure."

Structure. Right. "Is that what we're lacking?" he asked as he looked around at the monitors. They were all busy. Running searches, traffic cams, phone calls, she was listening and watching everything. The city had lost any sense of privacy, and its people had no idea.

All of this, and it still wasn't good enough for her. She didn't have any lines drawn, and to her the team needed more.

"Well, you're really on a kick lately, Chloe. Personal phone conversations", he said as he walked past one monitor, "bank records", he added as he stopped at another. "Amazon wish-list?"

She walked over, and minimized the page only to have another one take its place. "Big sister's watching", she said proudly as she sat down at her desk.

Wait a second, those emails looked familiar. Corporate meetings, minutes, investment plans.

"Is that…my email?" he asked

If she was keeping an eye on his emails, then that meant that she already knew that the solar towers were going to be built. And that meant that she knew that he had failed.

Crap, that meant that she saw the email from Canary. Maybe she ignored her hopeless attempt at flirting and saw that he never replied to it. It was strictly business for him.

He turned around to face her. "Chloe, I'll have you know that those messages between me and Canary were purely platonic."

But she was staring at him in disbelief. And she appeared completely unaffected. Interesting. "Can we skip your virtual love life and actually focus on the job here?"

"Gladly", he replied, seeing that this was getting to be awkward.

"Great", she said before the professionalism took over as she started typing. "Our victim's name is Sylvester Pemberton, and he had a long criminal record."

He turned back to the screen as his file popped up. "Fraud, embezzlement, and assault", she continued. "He didn't have any family, but he did have a friend show up at the hospital."

She pulled up the hospital video feed, and froze the feed. She magnified the image enough for him to see a young woman walking, and watched as Chloe ran it through the database.

He didn't understand- she did this all on her own, and she was being completely professional about everything. She barely let him know what was happening on the Kandorian front. Why the sudden change?

"Courtney Whitmore", she said, distracting him from his thoughts. "She's a sophomore at Blue Valley High, and she gets a big ol' D+ for her attendance. She hasn't been to school in the past three weeks."

A murdering teenager? No way. "You don't think Blondie's our killer, do you?"

"No. But I do think she knows something", she answered as she pulled out a print-out. "I want to take a look at this glowing staff the police have on evidence." She showed him the picture.

A glowing staff. Of course. They were all innocent glowing light-up thingies.

"We need to get it", she told him.

We, huh? So she was going to give him another chance, and he would take it. "We, meaning me, right?" he asked, trying not to smile too widely

She smiled back innocently. Sure, he would do this for her. And he would do it before another member of the team could.

He walked into the police station. Another person had died by the time he had gotten here- he needed to get to the bottom of this fast.

He took a look around at the men and women hard at work. Most of them were on the phone, others were reading files and on their computers. Oliver approached a man walking by, and asked where he could find someone working on the Pemberton case. The man pointed to a desk, and walked away.

Oliver looked at the man occupying the desk. The staff looked kind of big from the picture. It was a better play to find out where it was now before he put on gear and stole it.

The man looked up when he walked over. "Can I help you with something?" he asked

"Yeah, I was just wondering what the status of the Sylvester Pemberton case is."

"Why does it concern you?" the man asked as he flipped through a file. Oliver looked at the file curiously. They needed all of the information that they could get. Maybe he could steal that file later. See what was inside.

"A friend of mine was walking around the city in the middle of the night when it happened. I just want to make sure that whoever killed that innocent man pays for his crimes before someone else gets hurt."

The man put the file down before looking him up and down. "You're Oliver Queen, aren't you?" he asked

Oliver sighed impatiently. "Yes."

"There was only one witness on scene, and that was Chloe Sullivan. You might want to tell your girl to stay off the streets in the middle of the night. It's not safe."

"I'll be sure to pass along the message", Oliver answered before sitting down across from the man and looking around. The staff wasn't here. He took a look at the back of the room, and saw a door. The police lock-up- evidence was probably hidden there.

He still wanted to see if he could get any answers before breaking in. "Look man, I'm just trying to make sure that there isn't a repeat of what happened. I heard that there was some sort of weapon submitted as evidence. Were there any fingerprints? Any leads?"

"That's classified information", the man answered with an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry. I would get into trouble with my superiors if I said anything."

Tight-lipped. That's fine. Oliver stood up, and reached for his business card. "No problem. You're just doing your job. If there are any new developments, please don't hesitate to call", he said, handing the man his card before walking away.

He waited until the man busied himself in his work again before hiding in the corner where the door was. Sure, he was just doing his job. But Oliver also had work to do, and he wasn't leaving empty handed again.

Three locks on the door. Great. He took out his pick-lock and got to work. Keeping an eye on the people the entire time slowed the process, but he got inside, and examined the evidence for the previous night. There was an empty space where the rod should have been.

The rod could be anywhere- it could be examined by forensics right this second. He had to get his hands on it as soon as possible. That file. It could have something.

Oliver opened the door a crack, and waited 20 minutes before the man got out of his chair. He left the room quickly, walked behind five people with their backs turned, and scooped the file before sitting on the floor behind the desk.

He opened the file, and read the same information that Chloe gave him- Pemberton's criminal record. He flipped to the page that read evidence, and saw that the rod had been submitted into evidence, but was now declared missing. Damn.

When he finally left the police station unseen, he took out his cell phone, and called Chloe to give her the bad news.

"Chloe, I got a peek inside lock-up. Pemberton's glow stick is M.I.A."

"Oliver, we have to track it down."

He glanced over to the side of the road when he saw someone carrying said glow stick. Courtney. Maybe there was hope for him after all. "Call you back", he said distractedly before hanging up and running across the road after her.

"Excuse me, Miss Whitmore", he called out.

She glanced at him and let out an irritated scoff. "Do I know you?" she asked

"If I had to take a guess, I'd say that golden rod doesn't belong to you", he said, trailing behind her.

She let out a laugh. "Well, it belongs to me now!"

"Really don't want to get the police involved in this, do you? I mean, it'd be a shame to miss your junior-junior prom; breaking and entering gets you more than a slap on the wrist."

She turned around abruptly, pointing the rod in his direction. "Whoa." He put his hands up in the air. "Hey"

"Come any closer, and I'll give you my version of a slap on the wrist", she challenged.

Right. The rod was cool and all, but she had no idea who she was dealing with. "Let's cut to the chase, lite-brite. Two people were murdered, including a friend of yours."

There was a look of shock on her face, but he could tell that she was trying to hide it. "Two?"

"I'm trying to find out who's behind all of this, but I need you to be straight with me."

A man suddenly threw the rod back, and whispered to the girl. "We help ourselves."

"Hey, wait!" The girl exclaimed before the man aimed the rod at him. There was a bright flash of light, and then they were both gone.

He took out his phone, and dialed Chloe's number. "Did you find it?" she asked

"I don't have the rod. But Courtney did, right before some guy took off with her. Any leads on your end?"

"I think so. I'll text you the address of the parking lot. Meet me there in ten minutes."

"Be careful", he told her. But she had already hung up. Great. He waited for the text message, and headed over to the address.

He was around the parking lot when Chloe arrived. She silently pushed open one side of the fenced door, and Oliver opened the other side before stepping inside. "If someone's killing criminals from the past, why kidnap Courtney?" he asked

"Maybe she knew what Sylvester Pemberton had hidden up his star-covered sleeve", she answered as she looked around. "His car received a handful of parking tickets in this lot, so it should be easy to spot."

Oliver stopped in place when he saw the car. Old school, very old school. "You could say that", he let out a laugh as he walked over to the door. "Alright, just give me a sec", he said, reaching for the lock-pick in his pocket. "Get this door open."

He pulled out the lock-pick when he heard the door opening. He turned around, and saw Chloe smile. "Or you could just try the handle", she said.

She took a peek inside of the car, and he tried to examine it from behind her. "Clark's at the Daily Planet trying to track down Pemberton's home address right now, but it looks like he might have been living here."

"Well, if he knew someone was after him, maybe he was on the run", Oliver reasoned before walking over to the other side of the car and opening that door.

He opened up the glove compartment and found a little book. He closed the compartment, and read the words aloud. "Star-rocket racer. What do you suppose this was, a get-away car?" he asked before paying attention to the book.

He opened it to a random page, his eyes widening as he saw pictures of Chloe and Clark with descriptions of their identities. Chloe wasn't kidding when she said that Pemberton recognized her as Watchtower. Turned out that he knew about Clark being the Blur- his mark was drawn to the side.

He needed to protect both of them, Chloe especially since Pemberton was able to track her down. He flipped the page, and saw two pictures of him- one in a suit, and one in his gear. How was he going to protect Chloe if he had to be on the run himself?

He flipped another page, and saw Dinah and AC. And he had a feeling that if he kept flipping, he would find Victor and Bart. They were all in jeopardy.

"He knew about us", he said, handing the book to Chloe. "He knew about our identities."

"That means Courtney probably does too."

He saw the worry on her face. Hell, he felt it too. He took the book out of her hand and stashed it back in the glove compartment before getting out of the car. Out of sight, out of mind.

She got out of the car too.

"Look, Chloe. I'm going to find her. You should go visit Clark at the Daily Planet, see if he found anything there. Do you need a ride?"

"No, it's right there", she told him.

"I'll drop you off on the way to the Clock Tower. I want to see if I can track her down using one of my satellites."

"Oliver, it's fine."

There was a clap of thunder, and he felt a drop of rain on his face. "It's starting to rain. Come on, I'll drop you off."

She nodded, and they were off.

He dropped down at his couch at the Clock Tower hours later with a sigh. He hadn't stopped here right away like he said he would. Instead, he searched all over the city for Courtney. He checked abandoned buildings, the creepiest of dark alleyways in case she had been tied up and left there, he even checked her school to see if she was there. Nothing, not even a clue.

He got up and walked over to this desk, pulled out a remote, and pressed a button so that a monitor descended from its hidden place above a couple of ceiling tiles.

He checked satellite images from when he was talking to Courtney, and saw the same bright light that emitted from the rod. If the rod was used again, this was what he could look for.

He searched for that same image throughout the images for the hours he was out looking for Courtney, but there was nothing. That rod hadn't been used yet. But Oliver knew that it was only a matter of time. He would wait.

Waiting and sifting through the new images was making him a little anxious- he hadn't heard from Chloe or Clark in a while. He hoped that nothing big had happened.

So far, Chloe had done a better job at keeping him in the loop with things. Maybe saving her from herself wouldn't be too tasking of a job after all. Maybe she wanted to be saved.

A new group of images were taken within the minute, and Oliver sifted through them, almost bored now, when he saw that same bright light in one of them. It was smaller than the other one, but he could still see it. He zoomed in on the light a minute later, and saw that as it was fading the image of a teenage girl was becoming clearer. Courtney used it, and she was on the run. He needed to follow her. Now. Make sure that she wasn't going to get in any more trouble.

He suited up as quickly as possible, now tracing her on a device in his pocket. She wasn't far from here. He hopped on the railing on his balcony, shot out a zip-line, and flew into the air until he landed on a rooftop.

He checked the device. Two buildings away. He shot the zip-line so that it attached itself to a nearby flagpole, and zipped over so that he could see the girl in plain sight. It was her, alright, but what was she wearing?

His earpiece suddenly went off, and he could hear Chloe's worried voice. "Oliver?"

Oh no, what happened? "What's wrong?" he asked through the voice distorter

"Clark's gone."

"What do you mean, he's gone?" he asked, trying to remain focused as he ran off the roof and flipped onto a lower level. Where the hell was Courtney going? She was in the middle of Suicide Slums- this was dangerous!

"One of Pemberton's old gang somehow teleported him away, said he had to show him something. Called him his friend."

Right. Friends don't kidnap friends. But this was something different. "Where would they take him?" he asked as he ran, trying to catch up with her from above without being seen.

"I think the same place they took Courtney."

"Another twist to the mystery, Chloe", he said. "Satellites caught the glow of that staff over the Metropolis sky ten minutes ago. I followed it", he explained as he spotted her walking again. "Wherever Goldilocks went, she got a change of clothes."

He looked down at Courtney. What was she doing? "It's getting stranger", he said to Chloe as Courtney stopped moving.

"Stranger, how?"

"Well, it's the middle of the night in Suicide Slums. She's standing under a street light, all dolled up with no place to go. It's like she's making herself…" he stopped when he realized just what Courtney was doing here. She was setting up a trap.

"The target", he finished.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he shouted down to Courtney

She turned around and spotted him. "Me? What are you doing? Get out of here!"

Yeah…no. He jumped off of the roof, and landing on the ground. "Red, white, and blue. Loud and proud to be an American. Nice", he remarked as he stood up.

"Well, at least I'm proud of something other than myself."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked

"I know what kind of hero you are, Green Arrow."

Obviously not, if she didn't know about the good the team did. And the future good that would come from stopping the Kandorians. "Is the masked cheerleader really talking down to me? Where's my friend? Where's Clark?" he asked

It was cold all of a sudden, and there was a blue glow. Oliver was knocked down, and he heard a voice call out "Anyone up for some ice cream?"

Okay, time to stay down. If the guy didn't notice him here, then he would be able to rescue Courtney. That was, if she needed help. Hopefully she knew how to use the glowing rod that suddenly appeared in her hands.

The man appeared behind Courtney with an icicle pointed at her neck. "Who are you supposed to be, sweetie? The new star-spangled kid?"

Was that seriously her name? "It's Star Girl. Say cheese!" she exclaimed before the rod glowed again, and the man was thrown to the side.

"Oliver, what's going on?" Chloe asked

He watched as the guy got back up and the icicle in his hand grew to a rod. They started battling, and it looked like Courtney had things under control. He kept an arrow aimed at the scene, just in case.

Soon, they had both of their weapons aimed at each other, light matching ice. But they were both thrown back, and Courtney was separated from her weapon. Oliver looked at the rod, and then at Courtney again- it was clear that she wasn't going to make it in time.

He saw the man shooting ice at her, and knew that it was time to step in now. He stood up, and shot the arrow out, watching as it smashed the ice in pieces. The man disappeared suddenly, and Courtney turned around.

"You jaded jerk! You just ruined everything! This was my chance. I was supposed to get the first shot at Sylvester's killer."

So he ruined everything by saving her life. Sure. Thanks to him, she could get another shot at the guy!

"He promised me", Courtney went on.

"He?" Oliver interrupted "He, who?" Who was she working for? The same guy that kidnapped her?

And then suddenly, he felt himself being lifted into the sky. "Oliver?" he heard Chloe ask in the ear-piece. He needed to get to Watchtower before this guy did something to him- Chloe didn't have to figure this all out alone.

Although he was holding onto the guy, he tried to put him off course, tried to push him in the direction of the Watchtower.

"Stop struggling", a raspy voice answered.

"Yeah, I'm supposed to trust someone who just kidnapped me. I don't think so. Where did you take my friend Clark?"

"That's none of your business. Stay out of our way."

"I'm making it my business", Oliver said, trying to get some personal item of the man's so that this whole thing wasn't for nothing. He grabbed some sort of ninja star. It looked ancient. Perfect.

"You should stop putting your nose where it doesn't belong."

"Yeah, yeah", Oliver muttered. "This is a great little flying service and all, but you might want to work on your small talk." He spotted the Watchtower. "Want to drop me off at that building there?"

"Sure thing, princess", the guy answered as Oliver spotted Chloe staring at the big stained glass window.

He knew what was coming, but he didn't want Chloe to get hurt. He was about to protest, but it was too late. The next thing he knew, he was making contact with the window, smashing the glass, and rolling onto the Watchtower floor.

He groaned in pain as he tried to get up, shards of glass cutting him with every move that he made. His sunglasses had already flown off of his face, so he pulled back the hood and deactivated the voice distorter.

"Oliver!" He saw Chloe get up from the floor, pulling him up. "Are you okay?" she asked, worried

"He'll live", the voice sounded from the window. "Now, stay the hell out of our business." He pointed a spiked mace at them. "Next time, I won't ask so nicely."

The man flew away without another word.


	4. Chapter 4

_Although the objective of chess is to place the king in a compromising position, every player wants to capture the other's Queen._

Chapter Four

She helped him to get up and sit down on her desk. This was beyond embarrassing. Most guys had to deal with slight screw ups and jabs at their masculinity, but he had to get thrown through a window. And not just a random window in a random building with random people whose opinions didn't matter. A Watchtower window.

Sure, this definitely proved to Chloe that he could take care of himself. Not only was he so capable of getting himself back on his own two feet without any assistance from anybody else, but he was also able to get that mysterious golden rod. Some hero he was.

Right after he sat down on the desk, she started sweeping the shards of colored glass that covered the floor. With each sweep that she made, Oliver felt his pride being thrown away. He was completely unimportant here, wasn't he? He was just sitting here helplessly.

No. This wasn't happening. Chloe was not going to take care of the entire world by herself. She would never leave the Watchtower if she did. He stood up, ignoring the pain shooting throughout his body. "I can help you."

"No. Oliver, get back on the desk. I'm almost done here."

It was an order, not a request. It was unnecessary- he was cut up, not dead. He sat back on the desk, and watched as she continued to sweep the floor. He noticed her actions speed up- almost as if she was afraid of him helping her.

She finished quickly, and sped-walked over to the other side of the room, pulled out a drawer and withdrew the first-aid kit. She ran over to the kitchen, and returned with a small bowl in her hand. She took a pair of tweezers out of the first-aid kit, and inspected his arm.

He stared at her while she avoided his gaze. She was concentrated on his arm, and let out a small breath. "This is going to hurt a little bit", she said softly.

The next thing he registered was another shot of pain in his arm. He winced slightly, trying to mask his pain. And since she was focused on the glass coming out of his arm, she didn't see his face. His ego was still semi-intact.

"I'm sorry", she said with a look of concern on her face.

There was something going on in her head- he could practically see the gears turning. What was going on in there?

"It doesn't hurt", he said with as much confidence as he could muster. He needed to be confident right now- Chloe was worried about him, not to mention Clark. The threat of an apocalypse was still hanging over their heads, and these mysterious people kidnapping and throwing people through windows probably weren't helping.

He was worried too. But he couldn't let that show.

She was in the room when that glass window broke. She could be injured too. "Chloe, are you alright?" he asked

She nodded. "I'm fine."

She finished removing the rest of the glass in his arm and reached for a cotton ball. She dipped it in some iodine, and started wiping the cuts with it. She didn't say anything else, and the small amount of pressure that was applied to the cotton ball reminded him that her fingers were behind it.

Oliver was suddenly becoming more and more consciously aware of how close she was to him right now. And was becoming more ashamed of himself as the seconds passed and he realized that she didn't even notice.

Since she was working on his right arm, he raised his left hand up, and rubbed his neck gently to keep himself distracted.

And she hadn't noticed anything. She wasn't going to say a word until he said something first.

"Nine to one says Pigeon-man's got Clark locked up in a birdcage somewhere."

No reaction. No smile, no laugh. Nothing. She just looked at him for a split second before returning her attention to his arm.

What's going on in that head of yours, Chloe?

"I don't know who the hell these people are, but they sure don't like us", he tried again. Talking just distracted him from blocking out the stinging. "Ow."

"I thought you said it didn't hurt", she said, worried, instantly removing the cotton ball.

Oh good. So, she does care. "I lied."

She grabbed his head and pushed it upwards before cleaning the cut on his forehead. "You know, you're lucky he didn't drop you from ten stories up."

Good. Keep her talking. "I don't feel lucky. As much as I hate to admit it, these people really know what they're doing." She applied extra pressure to the cut. "Ow!"

She started to open up to him, but that was over as quickly as it began. She turned her back on him, and started to walk away. He had accidentally struck a nerve.

"Don't you think it's sad that a secret society of retired super-villains can actually come out of the mothballs and tear us apart like this?"

No, it wasn't sad. They had information on the League that dated back for years. They were keeping an eye on them. He couldn't have possibly seen this coming, and neither could she.

"They know everything about us, Chloe."

"Yeah, and we don't know anything about them", she said, zipping up the first aid kit.

And then it clicked. She wasn't angry with him for not getting that magic rod. She was blaming herself for everything. For not knowing what was going on. She was mad at herself for not having the information that the other guys did.

Oliver preferred when he was a failure to her.

She grabbed the kit and walked past him. "You know, maybe it's time I gave up on bringing the band back together. Maybe this has all been a lost cause."

"Whoa! Don't give up on us yet", he said, getting up from the desk. She blamed herself for not getting the team together while everything was going on. They never did ping her back, did they?

He was not going to let her give up on the team- that would mean that she was giving up on him, and he couldn't let that happen. "We may be a bit dysfunctional and hard to wrangle at times, but when the chips are down, we're always there, Chloe."

"They took Clark out from under our noses", she said, slamming the cabinet shut.

And Oliver wasn't chopped liver. He was still here, she wasn't alone. And he needed to prove that to her. He pulled out the ninja star, and held it out. "And I took this off the winged wonder when he yanked me into the sky."

She stared at it curiously and walked over to him, taking it from his hand. She turned it over. "It looks like an antique", she said slowly. "From a museum."

He nodded. Time to come up with a plan. "Now, I say we get some reinforcements", he started, staring at her to gauge how she was feeling. It looked like she wasn't ready to give up on him yet. "Get Clark", he continued, "throw them through some windows."

She smiled for a second. "They're all busy. And all scattered in different places. There's not enough time."

He was silent for a moment, before he realized that there was a member of the team right in Metropolis. "What about John Jones?" He asked quickly before all of Chloe's hope waned.

"He doesn't have his powers anymore, remember?"

"I don't either", he reminded her. "Give him a call, send the address. Tell him to meet me there."

He pulled his hood on and reached for his glasses.

She looked out the window where the sun was rising. "Dawn", she said suddenly. "You're not going to be able to make it around without people seeing the Green Arrow in the daylight."

"Don't worry", he said automatically. "I'll be fine."

"Be careful", she told him. Oliver caught the headset that she threw his way. "Keep in touch."

"I'll keep you updated. In the meantime, get some sleep, Chloe." He didn't want to check his phone later and see that she wound up in the hospital due to frost bite and sleep deprivation again.

He put the glasses on and left her there before she could protest. Out of all of the buildings in Metropolis that the winged man could have thrown him through and he chose Watchtower. The guy had no idea, but it was personal now.


End file.
